Vodacom, Bharti Airtel to bid for Etisalat’s Zantel unit

29/01/2015 06:07 AST

Emirates Telecommunications, the United Arab Emirates' largest phone company by market value, received offers from Vodacom and Bharti Airtel to acquire its controlling stake in Zanzibar Telecom., according to three people with knowledge of the matter.

The Zantel unit, which is Tanzania's largest Internet provider and is 65 per cent owned by Etisalat, has a valuation of about $300 million, said one of the people, who declined to be identified because the talks are private. Dar-e-Salaam-based Zantel also attracted a bid from Millicom International Cellular, the person said.

Representatives for Vodacom's controlling shareholder Vodafone, New Delhi-based Bharti, Luxembourg-based Millicom and Abu Dhabi-based Etisalat declined to comment.

Zantel would give a buyer access to spectrum in Tanzania, helping it cope with growing demand for mobile data. About 57 per cent of people in Tanzania had wireless access in 2012, compared to a ratio of more than 71 per cent in neighboring Kenya, according to data. In South Africa there are more mobile-phone accounts than people.

Vodacom is Tanzania's largest wireless carrier with 11.3 million subscribers, while Zantel ranks fourth with 1.8 million users as of September, according to the country's communications regulator. Meeco International of Tanzania owns 17 per cent of Zantel and the government of Zanzibar, a semi-autonomous nation in a political union with Tanzania, holds 18 per cent, according to the carrier's website.

Bharti fell 3.5 per cent to Rs380.25, the steepest decline in a month. Vodacom added 0.3 per cent to 136.92 rand in Johannesburg. Etisalat was little changed at Dh11.20 in Abu Dhabi. Millicom lost 0.2 per cent to 534 kronor in Stockholm on Tuesday.

Bloomberg